Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These
by Vlad-the-Impish
Summary: Story five of the Dreams series. Xander finds out that if you don't face your fears, your fears will come and face you.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters depicted in this story. I will not make any money from writing this story. I will not pass go. I will not collect $200. I will not talk about Fight Club.

**_Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These_**

"Xander," The Doctor sighed, "how many times must I tell you not to touch anything unless I'm there to supervise?"

"I don't know, try once more and see if we've reached the magic number, Doc," Xander quipped even as his stomach threatened to jettison everything it held onto the floor.

He'd been with The Doctor, Jack and Rose for over six months now, and he had to say that for the most part he was enjoying himself. Xander had been all over the place and all over time with his new friends, and had been in almost as many life or death situations as he had at home, and he hadn't even thought that possible away from a Hellmouth. At least now though he was allowed to make a contribution to remaining alive.

His two worlds had collided on more than one occasion since becoming a passenger with the TARDIS, or Eve as he now called her, telling her and the others that no woman with such a beautiful voice should have such an androgynous name. That statement had made Eve almost literally beam, which had made The Doctor feel a little annoyed, and a little jealous, that Xander got on with his TARDIS so well, but Xander's ability to ingratiate himself with anyone soon smoothed that over.

The first time had been when they'd gone to visit Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler, and had soon found themselves having to help save Rose's friend/ex-boyfriend, Mickey Smith, from a vampire. Mickey seemed to be as much of a demon magnet as Xander, as the vampire in question happened to have been his date for the night.

The "The world is older than you know…" speech didn't go down as well as he'd expected given what Mickey had seen, who would refuse to believe that vampires and demons weren't in fact aliens from another planet. It didn't matter all that much to Xander whether the guy believed him or not, as long as he took some precautions.

That was of course the easy part of the evening; surviving the evening around Rose's mom almost sent Xander homicidal. His parents might never win any awards, but they at least left him alone for the most part; Jackie seemed to want to not only control Rose's life, but anyone else that happened to be in her line of sight at the time, and actually expected them to be happy about it.

The tension grew steadily worse throughout dinner and Xander was tempted to make a bet with himself on who would snap first; him, Rose or The Doctor. Jack, the annoying bastard, seemed to find the whole thing highly amusing, likening it to some of the daytime dramas he'd seen back, or would that be forward, in his own time.

The final straw came when she all but demanded that Rose stop 'gallivanting' around the universe and come back home where she 'belongs'. Jackie didn't take it very well when Rose stated categorically that the TARDIS was her home, and that the only person that had a say with what she would do with her life was herself.

Rose had then stood up and left the flat without looking back, quickly followed by the three Time Lords.

Then they'd met up with one of The Doctor's previous companions, Sarah Jane Smith, which caused a heart stopping moment for Xander when they found out that the conspiracy she was investigating at a local school had a being in the guise of someone who looked strikingly similar to Giles as the mastermind.

Once he'd gotten over the shock, he'd found himself so angered that a creature would dare use the likeness of someone thought of as his father that he'd rushed back to Eve, grabbed the sword The Doctor had kept to commemorate the first time he'd saved the world in his latest incarnation, and went 'old school' on the demon headmaster and his cohorts, causing the others to look at him with a mixture of shock and fear.

Since then, Rose had given him a wide berth, as she didn't know how to deal with what she'd witnessed, but he wasn't all that bothered by that. She was a nice enough girl, but there were times when she looked a little like someone he was trying to forget, and the memories were still too clear for him to feel comfortable around her too long.

While Rose had stayed away, Jack had become a close friend. The two shared both a sense of humour and a darkness within them that was only really matched by The Doctor. All three could laugh and joke about with the best of them, but they were all also capable of making the hard choices, the ones where whatever you decide to do there will be people who will disagree with or hate you for it, but choose anyway because it had to be done.

Jack helped Xander refine his fighting skills, as while he was good, he could always be better, while in return Xander helped fill Jack in on the Supernatural. The Doctor would also join in on those talks, as it was one of the few areas where he didn't feel fully confident. Of course, he never cited that as a reason, but as he rarely contradicted what Xander said, the other two figured it out but decided not to call him on it.

The Doctor's contribution to their collective learning was to tutor on how to pilot Eve. Jack, who had previous experience in time travel, not to mention that this was his second stint with The Doctor and Rose, took to it like a duck to water, whereas Xander found it hard going. He had little to know experience with this type of thing, so he had a steep learning curve, and when he had a teacher who seemed to enjoy the sound of his own voice at times, he would often zone out, and it was at those times that things went awry.

This time was no exception; he was at the controls, although not using them as The Doctor was not satisfied that he was capable enough to do so, when he zoned out of one of The Doctor's rants and had put his hand down to rest a little. He wasn't sure what buttons or switches he'd touched, but it seemed that it had been enough to put Eve in an uncontrolled trajectory.

"So," Jack said as he began working the kinks out of his body from the less than comfortable landing, "any idea where we are?"

"Well, the readings indicate that we're in another dimension, but that can't be possible, as we cut all links between dimensions before the Time War to prevent the Daleks from escaping to one."

_**Just because the Time Lords were the most knowledgeable concerning dimensional travel,**_ Eve told them, _**does not mean that they knew everything about it.**_

The Doctor frowned slightly, due to the fact that once again the TARDIS was contradicting him on something. Ever since Xander had come into his life, the TARDIS had become increasingly vocal, and while in most cases that wasn't a bad thing, it also coincided with the fact that she seemed to almost enjoy correcting him sometimes. The most irksome thing about it was that he could never deny what she said.

This was another fine example; the Time Lords, while recognised as one of the most learned races in existence, they were still nowhere near as all knowing as many believed, or as he sometimes portrayed them to be. It was entirely feasible that there were more ways to do things than the ones known to The Doctor, the most obvious being, to his distaste, magic.

There was a reason why The Doctor's knowledge of the supernatural was not as extensive as his other areas of expertise; you had to take a lot of it on faith and faith alone. The Doctor had put his faith in humanity on numerous occasions, believing them to have almost unlimited potential, but that was mainly down to his personal experience of dealing with them. He needed to know how magic worked, and no one had been able to explain it to him sufficiently to sate his doubts.

Magic, true magic, not the forms of science that closely resembled it, would only work if the person honestly believed that it would. There had been a few Time Lords who could practise magic, but they were definitely the exception as opposed to the rule, and even then only to a very limited extent. Xander now counted as one of them, even though he could only perform a few 'simple' spells, it still put him in the top 1.

"We're on a planet called Pylea," Jack told them as he began reading the information that Eve was displaying. "It is a planet where humans are treated no better than cattle, with no rights whatsoever. It is a lot like the slavery that took place on Earth, but even then there were ways for them to buy their freedom; here you are either a slave or you are dead."

"I vote that we get back in the TARDIS and get the hell out of here," Rose stated immediately upon hearing that, not liking the situation they were in one bit.

"Would that we could," The Doctor replied, "but it seems as though the TARDIS was damaged during the landing and it will take time for her to fix whatever is broken."

Xander felt especially guilty now that he knew his actions had hurt Eve, and his expression darkened as he noticed the accusatory look The Doctor was currently sending his way.

_**There is no need to feel sorry,**_ Eve assured him, _**it is superficial at most, my version of a scraped knee.**_

_**That doesn't make me feel any better,**_ Xander replied sourly.

"I doubt it was meant to," Jack commented, joining the conversation, "but that's mainly because Eve knows nothing would ever make you feel better about it."

_**Captain Jack is right,**_ Eve told him. _**You have a tendency to be your own worst critic. I have noticed however, that there always seems to be a reason for the things that happen around you, and I believe that this is no exception.**_

_**What do you mean?**_ Xander asked.

"I think she means that there are beings on this planet that should not be here," The Doctor explained. "Every dimension has a unique pattern, which is shared by the beings that come from them." He pulled out a pair of seemingly benign 3D glasses from his inside pocket and handed them to Xander.

The young man put them on and noticed that there seemed to be small black particles swirling around The Doctor's body, the same going for Jack and Rose. As he raised his hand up in front of his face, he noticed that he too had those same black particles circling his body, but he also noticed red particles as well, which hadn't been present around The Doctor or the others.

"Those particles wouldn't be present if we were native to this dimension. Apart from us, there are five more beings here that do not belong in this dimension, and is slowly causing an instability that will eventually destroy the entire dimension."

"If it has been possible to travel between dimensions before," Xander said, "why didn't this instability occur?"

"What makes you think that it didn't?" The Doctor asked, impressed with Xander's quick, and accurate, deduction.

"Because you and the other Time Lords would have disabled whatever it was that had enabled travel well before the Time War began, and the fact that you didn't mention it right away."

"I would have liked to have met you before the TARDIS changed you," the Time Lord commented, "to find out if you had been this smart then as well."

Finding himself embarrassed by The Doctor's unusual praise, Xander ducked his head and a faint blush could be seen on his face.

"Hold up," Jack said, "Eve is finding something else strange about some of our fellow trespassers. It seems as though three of them have been tainted by something, but Eve can't figure out what it is. What she does know is that Xander has been tainted by the same thing."

"It can't be anything you've been in contact with since joining us," The Doctor mused, turning to face Xander, "as we would probably show the same readings, so it must have been something that you came into contact with before then."

"That can't be it, as the only thing that could have left a reading like that on me was…" Xander trailed off and his complexion paled slightly.

Rose noticed the look. "Was what?" she asked, finding that she didn't seem to feel so uncomfortable around him as she had done recently.

She had felt a little guilty about her behaviour towards Xander recently after their encounter with the Krillitanes, but she had never seen anyone act so ruthlessly before. Even when The Doctor faced off against the Daleks, she could still see some flicker within him that didn't want to take the actions he was taking.

With Xander, there was no such flicker, and she knew that he would do whatever was necessary to achieve his goal and not feel the slightest ounce of regret over it. She wondered how someone the same age as herself could become so cold, when The Doctor had lived for over 900 years and yet could still show compassion even for his greatest enemy.

"The Hellmouth," he told her, "they've been tainted by the Hellmouth." He turned his attention to The Doctor. "We're not leaving them here are we?"

"No; as I told you, the longer they stay the greater the stability. I have noticed that there seems to be another one with them that, while native to this dimension, no longer seems to belong here. Rose and I will stay here and help the TARDIS with repairs; why don't you and Jack find the others and bring them back here."

"Why aren't you coming along?" Xander asked. "Normally you'd be running all over the place exploring and getting yourself into life and death situations by now."

Rose grinned at Xander's alarmingly accurate description even as The Doctor scowled. "I might go searching for adventure, but with you danger seems to go out of its way to seek you out. If that's a trait shared by whoever you're going to be looking for, you should find them in no time."

* * *

After going inside Eve and grabbing a few 'essentials', namely the weapons and other equipment that The Doctor hated to have around but never threw away, Xander and Jack made their way through the Pylean countryside, using the tracking device Eve had supplied them to search for their fellow dimensional trespassers. Jack was using the device, as although Eve liked Xander, she also knew of his uncanny ability to break things. She had been able to block Xander's signature from the device, as the double reading it received from him scrambled the signal, which ensured that they didn't walk around in circles, but had set it so that if Xander became lost, Jack would be able to locate him.

On more than one occasion the two had to quickly find somewhere to hide from the native… people of Pylea, who looked too much like demons for Xander's liking. Of course, before he'd known about the supernatural he would have been thinking along the lines of Star Trek. Alien or demon, from what he'd been told they wouldn't be too happy to see a couple of 'cows' with weapons walking around free as a bird, so hiding was really their best option, until they had no other option.

The first thing that truly surprised the pair was when they found a black Cadillac covered in brush; the second was when Xander recognised it. "This is Deadboy's car!" he exclaimed.

"Who's Deadboy?" Jack asked.

"Oh, just a vampire with a soul I know," he replied, smirking slightly when he saw the look of disbelief on his friend's face. "I know that with everything I've told you about vampires it sounds strange, but with every rule there's an exception, and Angel is it. Mostly. Kinda."

"You sound so certain," Jack drawled.

"I don't like the guy; even thinking of Angel as a guy is pretty freaksome for me. Back in the Dale he had some uses, but most of his motivations were selfish."

"And yours were purely altruistic?"

"Not entirely," Xander admitted ruefully, "but I wouldn't just help one person and pretty much leave everyone to their own devices just to get in a woman's good graces." His face suddenly became ashen as he thought of something. "What if she is here?"

Jack knew exactly whom Xander was talking about, so knew better than to ask. During their training, when it was just the two of them, Xander would talk about his life before finding himself on Eve. He would never give names, not because he didn't trust him, but because of the emotional connections those names had. By not using the names, Xander was able to remain one step away from it, enabling him to tell the story without becoming affected by the memories.

She, the girl Xander was talking about, meant more to Xander than his own life. He had never said so, but Jack was a great reader of people. He recognised the way Xander's eyes would light up whenever he spoke about her, and the way they dimmed moments later, indicating that whoever she was, she didn't feel the same way. Jack could tell that Xander had gotten over some of the hurt he'd experienced, but he wasn't sure what would happen if she were here.

"Whoever it is," Jack said, "they're probably hoping that they'll find a way off this rock before they get a personalised collar. No matter what else, they should be happy that you're able to provide it."

"I did mention the fact they probably think I'm dead didn't I? These people have a big 'kill first, ask questions never' policy, and if they do think I'm dead they'll probably want to kill anything that dared to pretend to be their dearly departed friend."

Jack's eyes darkened slightly and his grip on his sonic disruptor tightened. "You mean they'll try."

* * *

As they reached a cave, Jack hit the tracking device a couple of times. "It says that two of the people we're here to find are somewhere in that cave, but one of the readings is stronger than the other. My best guess is that one of them has been here longer than the other, and their body has started to become more attuned to this dimension."

"Nothing like searching through a dark, cramped space to make an excursion complete," Xander sighed as he began to make his way inside, Jack following a step behind.

Using the glow crystals they started carrying ever since they landed on a world shrouded in darkness, they ventured further into the cave system, following the trail the tracking device laid before them. Soon, they could hear talking, one man and one woman, and they picked up their pace. They could see a light source ahead and deactivated their crystals, no longer needing the extra illumination, and entered the lit area, listening in on the woman talking.

"… so you see I don't get to talk too often as the others here are too afraid and when I do try to talk they don't understand what I'm on about especially when I go on about my theories regarding just where this is and did you know that they have a fruit here that tastes just like a strawberry except that it's actually blue and three times the size you need to peel it but other than that it's exactly the same the trouble is they won't be ripe for another five months…"

"Fred," a male voice cut in, sounding impatient, "focus. Do you know where they might keep my friends?"

Xander knew that this was the best opportunity he'd had in a while to truly shock someone and simply couldn't pass it up. "I didn't know you had friends Deadboy."

Angel's head whipped round so fast that Xander knew it would have broken had he been human. "Xander?!" he cried, shocked at seeing someone he believed dead two years.

"The one and only."

"Xander's dead," Angel stated authoritatively, "and has been for two years, so whatever plan you had concocted won't happen."

Xander then realised that the light source was coming from a hole in the roof of the cave, and that Angel was standing right in the middle of it. "Hey, Angel, how come you're not pothole filler right now?"

Angel's expression darkened for a moment, before his eyes widened again. "You really are Xander, aren't you? No one could be that annoying that easily."

"You do say the sweetest things. Getting back on topic; why aren't you dust? The last time I checked, vampires were susceptible to sunlight."

"I don't know if you know this, or how you got here for that matter, but we're in another dimension so the rules are different." He suddenly surged forward, grabbing Xander by the collar and pulling him in close. "Where the hell have you been the last two years? Buffy saw you cast a spell on the Mayor, and then you both disappeared in a blinding flash that took out all the demons in the surrounding area."

"And somehow," Xander said as he pried Angel's fingers form him, "like the cockroach you are, you managed to survive."

"I was in the sewers system trying to stem the flow of demons when the flash occurred." Angel went to grab Xander again, but found that he was too fast for him. "Where did you go?" he demanded.

"While it's none of your…" Xander trailed off as he realised just what Angel had said. "Wait, two years? I've only been gone six months or so."

"Xander," Jack said, gaining the young man's attention, "remember where you've been living."

"Ah, right." Xander turned back to Angel, who was clearly starting to lose his patience. "Of everyone I knew back in Sunnydale, you're the one who least deserves any explanation, so don't expect one."

"That's not good enough Xander," Angel growled, Xander noticing that his face was starting to become distorted and change colour.

The growl continued, and Xander watched as Angel changed into a creature he had never seen before. The creature suddenly lunged for him, Xander only dodging out of the way by the narrowest of margins. As Angel went to lunge for him again, Xander noticed that Jack was preparing to fire at him.

"Jack! No!" he yelled.

"Why the hell not?!" Jack growled in response, but refrained from firing.

"Angel may not be the sharpest tack in the drawer, but he wouldn't come at me if her were in full control. Now Angelus on the other hand…" Xander trailed off as he dodged yet another lunge from Angel, who crashed against one of the cave walls when he couldn't slow down his momentum.

Using the creatures dazed status to his advantage, Xander made use of the combat training Jack had given him and struck the back of Angel's head solidly with a spin kick, following up with a powerful elbow strike, knocking the beast out. After a few moments, the unconscious creature slowly morphed back into the more familiar form of Angel, who came to moments later.

"I take it that the two sides of your… personality differ more here huh?" Xander said to Angel as he turned to face him.

"What was your first clue?" he replied bitingly.

"So, have you calmed down enough or will you need another time out?"

"I'll be fine," Angel told him, standing to his feet, "and right now I have more important things to think about than you."

"Well that makes a change," Xander told him sarcastically.

"The people that came through the portal with me a couple of days ago have been captured, Cordelia being one of them."

"What the hell is Cordy doing with you?" Xander asked, more out of genuine curiosity than anything else. "From what I remember, after we broke up she had nothing to do with the slaying side of things, and even kept out of the fighting at graduation."

"A lot can change in two years."

"Right," Xander drawled, not sounding very convinced. "Anyway, Jack here and I were looking for you and the others that found their way to this dimension so we can all get back."

"How did you end up here?" Angel asked suspiciously, still not certain whether to trust the young man or not.

He was now certain that it was indeed Xander that was standing before him, but given that no one had see hide nor hair of him since his dramatic disappearance during graduation, he was no longer certain on which side of the line Xander stood.

"We took a wrong turn at Albuquerque," Xander answered tiredly as he noticed that the woman was looking at him and Jack questioningly, but seemed to be afraid of them as well. "Hey there," he said softly as he slowly made his way forward, trying to look as unthreatening as possible, "I'm Xander, and this is my friend Jack. What's your name?"

"Winifred Burkle, but you can call me Fred."

Jack looked at her strangely, as he'd barely heard anything she'd said, which wasn't all that surprising considering that she'd barely whispered it whilst using a speed he wasn't sure was possible from a human.

Xander didn't have as much trouble as he was well experienced with high velocity babble, and smiled warmly at her. "Hey Fred, it's nice to meet you." He took a look at her attire. "How long have you been here?"

She turned her head to the far side of the cave and Xander noticed that there were a lot of markings, quickly guessing that each one indicated a day she'd been living there. It was a lot of days.

"If this world has a similar cycle to Earth, I've been here around five years."

"Well, my friends and I have a way of getting off this rock, and you're invited." He turned to Angel and sighed slightly. "You too I suppose."

"Your gracious hospitality is overwhelming."

"Listen Deadboy," Xander snapped suddenly, "if it were up to me I'd leave your sorry ass here, but our presence in this dimension is causing it to destabilise and it will eventually go boom."

"How long do we have?" Feed asked, who was now checking the walls as though the planet were already falling apart.

"I haven't the faintest idea, that's what The Doctor is trying to figure out."

"Doctor who?"

"That's the one," Xander smirked. "Either way, the sooner we get off this rock the better, so you better start explaining just who has Cordy and your friends so we can get them too."

* * *

It turned out that Cordelia had inadvertently triggered a portal between Earth and Pylea and had been sucked through, just as Fred had years before her. it had taken Angel and his colleagues, Doyle and Gunn, a while to figure out what had happened, until they had received assistance from The Host, otherwise known as Lorne, who was actually a native of Pylea and had been banished for his pacifist tendencies.

Using his convertible as a capsule within to travel together, Angel and the others had triggered the spell the same way Cordelia and Fred had previous, hoping that by keeping the book with them they would be able to use it to return home after finding Cordelia. Instead, they had arrived sans book, it leaving Angel's possession under it's own power just before they had entered the portal.

They had found themselves separated after that, as Angel discovered his more extreme transformation between his human and demon forms, and the souled vampire had then discovered Fred hiding out in the cave, realising that it was the woman who had disappeared all those years before. Travelling into the local village, he had found out that Doyle, Gunn and Lorne had been captured by the ruling class of this planet, and taken to meet their newly crowned princess, who would shortly be betrothed to the Groosalugg,

When Angel had found out that Cordelia was the newly titled princess, the visions Doyle had bestowed upon her when he thought he might die, only to live and realise he couldn't take them back, forced him to use every calming technique he knew to keep his demon at bay and tear through the fortress in search of her and the others. Fred had then led him back to the cave so he could cool off some more, and that had been when Xander and Jack had found them.

Needing to work out a way to get the others back without having to use Angel's desired method of storming the castle, jack and Xander led Angel and Fred to Eve, knowing that Fred at least would be safe there, only to find that she was surrounded by guards on horseback, and that both Rose and The Doctor were bound, gagged and draped over two horses.

Knowing that neither one would have come out of Eve, and that Eve would have never allowed anyone inside her that she didn't want, The Doctor and Rose had to have been outside of Eve when the guards arrived and been unable to get inside before they were grabbed.

"Looks like there was another reason Doc wanted to be left alone with his English Rose," Xander whispered to Jack from their hiding place.

"Now's not the time," Jack growled softly, and Xander noticed a touch of jealousy in his voice.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Jack asked.

"That you weren't invited."

Jack went to snap at his friend, but when he noticed that his face showed genuine sympathy, he instead closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "I always knew that I'd be a third wheel to them the last time round, I should have known that things wouldn't change."

"That's hope for you; it allows you to think things through logically, and then completely ignore the conclusions no matter how painful the outcome." Xander's face looked wistful as he spoke, before the mask came down again like it always did when he allowed himself to remember. "Hope keeps you alive, but it can also kill you once you realise it's gone."

Angel wanted to interrupt, but found himself unable to do so. The tone in Xander's voice reminded him of his encounters with the younger man just after his ordeal with those demons, how sometimes he would say something with a tinge of sadness that had cut through Angel like a knife.

He remembered Buffy telling him a little of what Xander had gone through, hearing the deep and agonising pain in her voice and just knew that she'd left the worst of it out, so he knew a little of what he had experienced, but he had thought back then that with time Xander would overcome.

Hearing the exact same tone in his voice now told him that he hadn't yet, and that he probably never would, and it was that knowledge that had hurt Buffy so much and allowed her to abide by Xander's wish to leave him be.

"They've got all of our friends now," Xander said unnecessarily, his tone becoming harder, less alive, "and I am now officially upset. I intend to show them just what happens when I'm upset."

Angel didn't quite know what that meant, but Jack certainly did and it didn't bode well for the indigenous people of Pylea, as Xander would leave their planet as nothing more than a dead rock if he had to.

* * *

It had been two hours since they'd had seen The Doctor and Rose taken away, Eve too. The two recently minted Time Lords had wanted to just run over there and help their companions, but more level heads had prevailed and instead they'd remained hidden until the guards had left and then returned to the cave to think of a game plan.

"Xander," Jack began cautiously, "when did you get yourself a sonic screwdriver?" he asked as Xander began using the device with never before seen proficiency.

"When The Doctor left it on the floor and I picked it up," Xander replied absently as he continued searching for something. "I guess he'd done that before, because he was using another one the next day and never commented on losing it."

"Does anyone else know you have it?" he queried, knowing that if The Doctor had known he would have taken it away from him a moment later.

He wondered if Xander had been deliberately hiding how adept he was with the technology he had been shown, or whether it was the situation that was allowing him better clarity of thought. It was probably a bit of both, and that worried him because he hadn't any idea until right now.

Jack was a man who believed he could read people, and yet Xander had managed to deceive him with apparent ease. If it weren't for the fact he believed it was more an instinctive thing on Xander's part he'd feel hurt by it, instead he felt sad for his friend because of what he must have gone through in his life for him to learn how to hide his true self.

"I guess Eve does," Xander shrugged as he continued searching, "there isn't anything going on inside her that she doesn't know about." Xander turned to see the looks he was receiving from Angel and Fred and replayed his words in his head. "Okay, I can see how what I just said might not sound the way I intended if you don't know who Eve is. Eve, or as The Doctor call her the TARDIS, is basically a time machine."

"That's what you meant when you said that it had only been six months; you're from the past," Angel realised.

"Wow, you're really smart," Xander drawled sarcastically. "Anyway, the blue box you saw the guards taking was Eve, and we'll be needing to get her back to get home."

"How are we all going to fit in something so small?" Angel asked. "I'm not even sure how the four of you fitted inside."

"It's a tessaract, in that it's larger on the inside than it is on the outside," Fred told him.

"Oh." Angel turned to Xander. "How are we all going to fit inside something so small."

"She's right Deadboy, it's larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Just because Fred has been stuck here for years doesn't mean that she's stupid," Xander chided, feeling a sense of satisfaction when Angel looked down chagrined.

The vampire looked up at Fred. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"That's okay, it happens all the time."

"No," Jack stated firmly but not harshly, the first time he had spoken to the young woman directly, "it is never alright for your comments and suggestions to be ignored." Seeing Fred smile at him slightly, he beamed in reply before returning his attention to Xander. "What are you looking for anyway? The tracking device we have will allow us to find the others."

"I know that," he replied, "they're not what I'm looking for. Because The Doctor is otherwise indisposed at the moment, and we don't know how much time we have before the instability we're causing becomes critical, I'm trying to find any anomalous readings that would indicate a portal out of here."

"What makes you think that there would be a portal, and even if there is that it would take us back to our own dimension?" Angel asked, finding himself disconcerted with the way Xander was handling himself.

He had always known that there were hidden depths to the young man, he had after all forced him to help find Buffy when she'd been prophesised to die, and had stood down his soulless self when he had come to finish the job and kill/turn Buffy when she was laid up in hospital, but he had still been able to sense the fear he felt. Right now, he couldn't sense anything from the man, but he could hear something unusual.

"Why do you both have two heartbeats, because I'm sure you didn't the last time I saw you."

"A long story that I neither have the time nor the inclination to get into right now," Xander told him formally, surprising the vampire with his diction and vocabulary. "As I was saying before, we need to locate a portal to use once we have rescued the others, and I've attuned the sonic screwdriver to detect any energy signatures that correlate with such a phenomenon. Anything I find will then be searched further to see whether the portal leads to our dimension or not, by looking for the same signature we currently have whilst in this dimension."

"You know," Jack said after a few moments of silence, "I'd felt that my knowledge of science and technology had expanded after my resurrection in the space station, but I'd never have thought to do that."

"I only made myself think about what The Doctor would do if her were able," Xander said, feeling uncomfortable, "and the rest came easily. Now, all we have to do is figure out a way to break in to the castle, rescue our friends and make our way home."

"The Rebels," Fred blurted out, covering her mouth as the other three turned to her.

"What rebels?" Jack asked.

"There are humans that have escaped from their masters and want to have equal rights. I've met them a few times, but I've always been too afraid to help them."

"There's nothing wrong with being afraid," Xander told her, knowing that she felt ashamed by it, "it's the only thing that stops us from doing something stupid. Going up against something bigger, better organised and better equipped is an easy way to get killed, and I'm sure that the rebels have lost a lot of people without making much progress. I can't say that they would be of much help, but they might serve as a welcome distraction enabling us to gain entrance while the guards were otherwise occupied."

"You're not suggesting we use them as cannon fodder?" Angel asked appalled at the thought even as Angelus praised the young.

"Of course not, which is why we won't use them, not that we need to." Xander closed his eyes and smiled slightly. _**Isn't that right Eve?**_

_**Indeed it is Alexander,**_ she replied, _**indeed it is.**_

"What the hell are you doing with your eyes closed smiling?" Angel demanded, his desire to rescue his friends growing with every second while his patience was deteriorating just as rapidly.

"Talking to Eve; we've found that with three of us around now, she can communicate beyond the confines of her body, but only if we initialise the contact. I contacted her silently the moment I noticed Rose and The Doctor were captured, and she's been keeping an ear out ever since."

_**Alexander, I have… relatives here for want of a better title, that have also been captured. There are at least three other TARDIS' within close proximity of myself, although only one is fully operational. It seems that the Time Lords that had been with them were captured under similar circumstances to The Doctor and Rose, and after being tortured for information on how to use them, were executed as enemies of Pylea.**_

Both Xander and Jack growled upon hearing this, knowing that The Doctor would be in line for the same treatment, not to mention Rose. _**We'll help them if we can,**_ Jack assured her, feeling her gratitude even though she knew they'd try anyway, _**but our friends have to take precedence.**_

_**Agreed.**_ there was a pause, and then Eve began speaking again. _**The two that are unable to operate beyond the local area are willing to become the diversion you require. They know that the risks are too great to rescue them, especially as they would probably not survive the journey out of here, and they would rather go out fighting rather than wait for their captors to eventually pick them apart like vultures. This is, however, on the proviso that we, or to be more precise you Alexander, help the third to escape.**_

"What?!" Xander replied out loud, forgetting to communicate telepathically due to shock.

_**The four of us have been communicating, trading information, since my incarceration here, and he believes that you have tremendous potential that will only be realised with a TARDIS of your own.**_

_**What does The Doctor have to say about that?**_ he asked.

_**I do not know; both he and Rose are still unconscious and unable to communicate with me.**_

_**Can I speak with the TARDIS that wants me?**_ Xander requested, wanting to know why this being would choose him.

_**I am afraid that will not be possible until you have bonded with him. I'm aware that you would want to know his name, but like mine it would be unpronounceable for you and would also cause you harm to hear it. He has, however, stated that you may choose a name for him, as you did for me, but he would need to approve it.**_

_**I'll give it some thought and inform him when we meet. Tell him thank you for placing his faith in me,**_ he told her, feeling more than hearing her acquiescence.

"Okay, what was that all about?" Angel demanded.

"We've got ourselves a diversion," he told him simply, knowing that the lack of information would quickly drive him crazy.

"What is it?"

Jack and Xander looked at each other for a moment before smiling widely. "Oh, you'll know it when you see it."

* * *

The Doctor was not in a good mood; not only had he and Rose been captured by the steroid laced cousins of Kermit the frog, but they had also taken his sonic screwdriver and tied him rather proficiently to a metal bar above his head, with his feet just about touching the ground to ensure he had no purchase.

Rose was in a similar position, and as he saw the haphazard way her clothes looked he had to once again suppress a growl. While he was under the suspicion they saw them as nothing but cattle, it seemed like a couple of the guards wanted to take a closer inspection. He would have to think of a suitable way to show them how… displeased that made him.

Knowing that Xander and Jack were still out there made him feel better, and being in contact with the TARDIS also helped to buoy his spirits, but he was never one to feel happy sitting on the sidelines. He knew that he could easily untie himself and feel more comfortable, but he didn't know whether he was being watched or not, and until Rose regained consciousness he wasn't taking any chances that they might separate them.

_**Doctor, it is time.**_

Not making any outward sign of acknowledgement, he sent a silent feeling of readiness and prepared himself for whatever distraction the two TARDIS' came up with, knowing that whatever it was, he'd enjoy the show.

He wasn't disappointed.

While the two were damaged in such a way that time intergalactic travel was impossible, they were both more than capable of travelling locally and that was just what they were now doing, staying long enough to draw attention before moving location, the two began causing panic throughout the building, the guards running themselves ragged trying to answer all of the calls placed on them.

With everyone distracted, The Doctor took his chance and quickly untied the bonds holding him almost suspended in the air, doing the same to Rose before gently shaking her in the hopes of bringing her round.

"Doctor?" she said groggily after a few moments, her eyes rolling around in her sockets as she tried to regain her wits.

"Come on Rose," he urged as he pulled her up and half supported half carried her towards the cell door.

He might not have his sonic screwdriver on him, but that didn't mean The Doctor was trapped; you don't live 900 years without learning a few tricks. He soon had the lock picked using a length of wire he kept hidden in the seam of his jacket, and then the two of them began to make their way through the corridors, The Doctor hoping that they were going in the direction of the exit.

They barely went 100 metres when they were met by Xander and Jack, who seemed to be having a fun time beating up the guards that thought it would be an idea to get within striking distance of them. Seeing the efficient way they were holding the guards back, The Doctor made a mental note to get one or both of them to show Rose how to defend herself, something he should have thought about some time ago.

He briefly including himself in that, but knew deep down that he was not a fighter, at least not in that way, and preferred to defeat people with his brains rather than brawn, which was probably a good thing considering he didn't exactly have a lot of brawn available to him.

"What took you two so long?" he asked as they finally had time to talk.

"I got hungry so we spent a while trying to find if they had Twinkies on this planet," Xander said as he smashed the head of one of the guards into a nearby wall with a satisfying, at least for him, thud, knocking him out. "Once we've found Eve and the other TARDIS, I need to help Deadboy find Cordy and his friends, and then we'll be all set to blow this pop stand."

"Who's Deadboy?" Rose asked, unsure whether she actually wanted the answer.

Suddenly there was a blur launching itself over her head and into the guard that going to hit her from behind, the guard sent flying across the corridor until it landed in a very uncomfortable looking position twenty feet away.

"That's Deadboy," Xander told her as Angel stood up from the crouch he'd been in.

"The name's Angel," he told her, his voice sounding gruff.

There was something off about him and it caused Rose to take an involuntary step back.

"You better keep your other side in check Angel," Jack told him, "the last thing we need is for him to cause us problems."

"I know," he said as he tried to calm himself down, "it's just that Angelus always did enjoy a good brawl now and then."

"He also liked killing entire villages and turning young girls insane before turning them," Xander pointed out, "which all the more reason to keep him on a tight leash."

"Thank you so much for the history lesson," Angel snapped, but sighed as he felt the guilt over those actions flare up. He dearly wanted to take offence to what Xander had said, but not even he was that deluded.

Angelus was, and still is, a vicious cold-blooded killer with a body count that easily surpassed any and all known serial killers. He tried time and again to remind himself that those atrocities had been committed by Angelus and not by himself, but he knew that he was as much to blame for what had happened. Had he not been so weak willed when it came to Darla that fateful night, the world may well have been a better place.

"Why is a vampire helping us, and more to the point, why haven't you killed them Xander? I was under the impression that you loathed and despised every single last one of them," The Doctor queried.

"Oh I do, him included, but he has a soul and if I killed him Bu…" Xander's faced suddenly crumpled, and before anyone could say anything he was running full tilt away from them.

"What was that about?" Rose asked as they began to chase after their friend.

"I think that was the first time he'd uttered her name since he arrived on the TARDIS six months ago, and he just realised he'd been deluding himself," Jack told her, knowing that it didn't really explain anything, but knowing that to say anything more would betray Xander's trust.

"Deluding himself about what?"

"That he was over her," he told her sadly.

* * *

Six moths. He'd gone six whole months without her name slipping from his lips, and within hours of meeting up with Angel he'd gone and said it like it was an everyday thing.

Like her name had no power over him.

He was a fool. For over half a year he had done whatever he could to get past Sunnydale, and he had begun to convince himself that he was succeeding. Seeing that Krillitane using a form similar to Giles had been a set back, but the mindless violence that had followed seemed to go a long way in helping.

He'd deliberately talked about his Sunnydale experiences with Jack in an effort to get over them, knowing that by discussing them with someone who hadn't been there, he could go some way to coming to terms with that fact that it was his past, and that it would stay that way.

Things never quite work out the way he planned them, and this was a perfect example. He hadn't gotten over her, he hadn't gotten over anything, and his comment earlier to Jack about whether she would be here or not should have clued him in, but it hadn't.

He'd had such high hopes that he might one day be able to live a, somewhat, normal life one day ever since his arrival on Eve, when he hadn't felt the overwhelming depression that had become a permanent fixture in his life, but it had been a short lived thing; not long after Jack's decision to leave Torchwood 3 and come with them, the feeling had returned, although admittedly it hadn't been at such an extent.

Luckily, even though both The Doctor and Jack were excellent readers of people's emotions, they didn't know him or just how capable he was of hiding what he felt, and because he had nothing but memories around to remind him, he hadn't had to distance himself the way he did before, so they never knew just what he was feeling.

The only one who did know was Eve, who without even wanting to knew every thought, every memory and every emotion he'd ever experienced, but luckily for him she had never divulged that information to the others.

_**Nor would I Alexander. Your thoughts are our own, and had I the choice I would never have delved inside them without your express permission, so I definitely wouldn't inform anyone else of them.**_

_**I know Eve, and I'm very grateful.**_

He continued running, although now not because he was trying to get away from something, but because he was being drawn somewhere. Now with a destination in mind, and for some reason knowing exactly where he was going, he weaved his way through the catacomb like building, finally ending up standing in front of a large set of oak doors. Even without trying he could tell they were locked, so he removed the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and unlocked them, then using all his might to force the doors open.

Entering the room, he could see Eve to the left, with a similar shaped craft next to her. _**Good to see you again Eve.**_

_**It's good to be seen.**_

He looked at the two TARDIS in the room, the other two still causing chaos throughout the building, and immediately saw the differences between them, which he admitted to himself ruefully, should have been expected.

The Doctor had explained to him that a TARDIS had the capability to change their external appearance, so that they could better blend in with their surroundings, but Eve had been in an accident almost fifty years ago and since then she'd been unable to change, leaving her as the always fashionable blue police box.

Xander had 'talked' to her about it once, and found out that she'd gotten so used to it now, that she didn't if she'd want to change it even if she could. Still, it was something he wanted to look into at some point, so she at least had the opportunity to choose.

This other TARDIS, who until Xander had been able to communicate with was unnamed, looked nothing like a police box at all, in fact it looked more like what Xander had always thought an interstellar craft would look like; something from a sci-fi show. In fact, as Xander got a closer look, the craft looked remarkably like one of the shuttlecraft in Star Trek: The Next Generation, just a little bit smaller.

It looked cool.

_**I'm glad you approve,**_ a new voice told him inside his head. A voice that triggered yet another sad memory.

"_**Jesse,**_" Xander breathed, while also sending the name telepathically. Now he had heard his voice, there is simply no way that he could ever call him by any other name.

_**I'm sorry that my 'voice' triggers bittersweet memories Alexander,**_ the newly christened Jesse told him, **_but I would feel honoured to be named after someone whom you hold so dear._**

_**How am I able to communicate with you now, when I couldn't earlier?**_ he asked, puzzled.

_**Your close proximity allows… Eve to act as a relay for us. If you accept my offer and bond with me like you have with her, you would be able to speak with me, no matter our distance. Will you bond with me?**_

Xander knew he didn't have very long to decide, but right at the moment he could only give one answer. _**Where do I sign?**_

_**There's nothing so formal,**_ Jesse told him, Xander able to feel the happiness exuding from both him and Eve over his decision, _**all you need do is touch the small black panel on my door.**_

Xander walked over and did just that, not needing even a moment to think about his decision. As he touched the panel, it glowed, slowly moving through the colours of the spectrum before flashing white three times and finally returning to normal. _**Is that it?**_

_**Yes,**_ Jesse told him, his voice now louder and more clear than before. _**I fear that we do not have the luxury of me giving you a guided tour just now Alexander, as we still need to find the others, not to mention a way out.**_ Xander didn't respond, knowing that Jesse was right, but the disappointment he felt was palpable and Jesse reacted to it. _**However, there's no reason why you cannot do all that inside.**_

Xander stepped back as the rear of the ship began to rise, just as in the show, and as soon as he was able went inside. He soon found out that, just like Eve, the inside was much larger than the outside. He would have felt a little disappointed that the interior didn't match that of a shuttlecraft had he not been in awe of just how… shiny everything was.

Eve was of course just perfect as she was, but years of The Doctor having to repair her with whatever he could salvage had meant that she didn't have the technical precision that Xander was sure she used to possess. Jesse looked like he'd just straight off the showroom, in a manner of speaking anyway.

"That's because I was to be used as a training vessel," Jesse explained verbally, his voice coming from speakers positioned throughout the interior. "I'll explain more later, we have people to save."

"Alright," Xander replied as he sat down, surprised that he was actually able to communicate verbally, "I'm hoping that you can travel unassisted, because I haven't the faintest idea."

"We both know that's a lie; you listened for more attentively than you let on, but let them think you were having big problems understanding. In any event, I am now able to operate unaided since we have bonded, so I will leave you to your delusions and get to the matter at hand. The Doctor and the others have already entered Eve, and we've been communicating over what to do. We still need to find a useable portal…"

"I've already found one," Xander told him, cutting in. He held up his sonic screwdriver. "The coordinates are in here."

"And to think that you have no idea how to use advanced technology," Jesse commented. A cylinder rose up from the panel in front of Xander. "Place it in the port and I'll download the information and send it to Eve. Then while they're rescuing the others, we can work on opening the portal and keeping it open long enough for us all to escape."

"Why won't we be helping the others?" Xander asked, his tone indicating just how much he didn't like that plan.

"You know why not; it makes more sense for us to divide our forces for us all to go together."

"I know that, but Cordy is, was, a friend."

"Which means that you want to do what is best to ensure her safety, and that's for us to secure the portal."

Xander looked like he was going to argue the point for a moment before he sighed and relaxed into his chair. "I know, but it just galls me that the Forehead Avenger gets to swoop in and save the girl as always."

"You don't strike me as the type of person to do things just to look good in the eyes of others."

"I'm not," Xander agreed, "and if it were anyone else I'd probably not be bothered, but with Deadboy I I've always felt like I could find a way to end world hunger single handed and then he'd come along and open a jar for someone and he'd be seen as some shining saviour and I'd be somewhere in the background."

"That is something I'll help you work on," Jesse assured him, "but right now we've arrived at the coordinates of the portal. I double-checked your readings, not because I didn't trust them but to prove that you got them right, and this will definitely lead us back to our dimension, but we'll be unable to tell just where, or when, we'll arrive."

"Not seeing a problem with that Jesse, as long as wherever it is isn't here."

"Nor do I Alexander, for it has been a very long time since I have been home, and that is a big claim from a time machine."

* * *

"How long has it been now?" Xander asked.

"Five minutes longer than the last time you asked Alexander," Jesse replied tiredly, hoping this time would be the last time.

Since they'd arrived that the entrance to the portal, Xander had been constantly asking Jesse how long it had been since they'd left the others to rescue Cordelia and the rest of Angel's group. they had worked out how to activate the portal, but had decided against doing so until the last possible moment, as they theorised that once the portal was opened, they would be succeed through with the portal closing behind them, possible leaving the others trapped. That left them both with nothing to do but wait and ensure that no one interfered with their escape route.

Xander had tried to busy himself by exploring the ship, but Jesse had ensured that he couldn't go beyond the main compartment, stating that now was not the time to 'get lost in geeker joy'. Xander would have taken offence, but given that he was still felt giddy whenever he thought that he was sitting inside a real life Star Trek shuttlecraft, he had little choice but agree.

Of course, knowing that just the other side of the doors were things that would send him into geeker joy didn't really help with his ability to sit still and wait patiently.

"It's been over an hour now!" he shouted, his tone almost sounding whiny. "How long will it take for them to get here?"

"It will take as long as it takes and not a minute longer," Jesse told him firmly. "I can see that you are normally a patient man, so why can't you be so now?"

"I can be patient when I feel that there's nothing I can do; I know that there's something I can do, and to not do it just does not fit right with me."

"I know you don't like this Alexander, but like Mr Spock once said; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Your need to be part of the rescue mission was outweighed by the need of the others to have an escape route."

"There's a reason why you like the shuttlecraft in Star Trek isn't there?"

"You mean there's a reason the shuttlecraft in Star Trek looks like me don't you?" Jesse replied, the tone making Xander believe that if he had a face he'd be smirking.

"Now that's a story I've got to hear."

"I have been around for a very long time Alexander, and have been on a great many adventure that I will be more than happy to share with you, but we don't have the time right now."

"There's nothing else to do," Xander groused.

"Yes there is, because the others are arriving and they have company."

Xander turned to look at the view screen behind him, not able to hide the smile the thought produced, but it was quickly quashed when he saw what was happening. Eve was moving towards them, her ability to travel still impaired leaving her with the mundane option of flying. While she was easily faster than almost anything built, they were dealing with a people where magic was both accepted and widely used, meaning that the mounted police in hot pursuit were actually keeping up.

"We have to open the portal now!"

"We can't Alexander, they are too far away."

"The Doctor is inside Eve Jesse, and for The Doctor anything is possible."

"The Doctor is still young; he believes that he is invincible, only because he has seen so many around him perish, and yet he is already on his tenth regeneration after only 900 years."

Before Xander had a chance to comment on that, The Doctor and Eve proved that the young could still surprise the old by putting in a sudden burst of speed, leaving their pursuers for dust.

"Open the portal!"

This time Jesse didn't disagree, instead initiating the sequence that would send a pulse of energy into the portal, opening it. The problem came when the portal began to open before the sequence had finished, indicating that someone, or something, had activated it from the other side. He could start to feel the effects on him almost immediately, the pull of the portal becoming harder and harder to resist until he began to feel himself losing ground to the invisible force pulling him in.

Knowing that to fight against it any longer would only cause him damage, Jesses stopped resisting and allowed himself to be pulled closer and closer to the portal.

"Alexander," he said urgently, "I seriously suggest you strap yourself in, as we're most likely in for a bumpy ride."

"How did the portal open so fast? I thought we figured out it would take thirty seconds for you to build up a surge powerful enough to kick start it?"

"We did, but it seems someone is as eager to get here as we are to leave. I resisted the pull for a while, so the others should get within it's influence before we enter, but things might get a little tricky if we find out there isn't enough room inside for us and whoever's coming through the other end."

"Hey; if life were meant to be easy, everyone would be doing it," Xander quipped as he buckled himself in as Jesse instructed.

He watched the progress of Eve, and saw that his newest travelling companion was right; by the time they were entering the portal, the others were close enough to also become ensnared by it's pull and was soon following behind. He noticed that the guards were also pretty close, and may well be able to follow them in, when he saw the remaining two TARDIS' slam into them of either side, buying them all the precious seconds they needed to escape.

"Thank you," Xander whispered as he lost sight of the two ships that had sacrificed themselves to save him and the others. "How long until we're through to the other side?"

"Hard to say," Jesse replied, "it could be five minutes… wait, I'm reading someone caught within the opening, being bombarded with energy."

The tone in Jesse's voice made it clear that whatever was happening to the person outside was not conducive to their health. "Is there any way we can get them inside?"

Despite the situation, Jesse laughed slightly. "It took you a lot not to say beam them aboard, didn't it?" He continued on, ignoring Xander's snort of outrage. "I'm having a little difficulty getting a solid read on them, but I think I can do it."

Several tense moments later, a body began to materialise several feet away from Xander's position, looking much like Eve does when she arrived somewhere. As the body started to become clearer, Xander's face paled, and he realised that the gods certainly had something against him.

"Oh my god, it's… it's Buffy."


	2. Chapter 2

"Who's Buffy?" Jesse asked, knowing that he could delve into Xander's mind to find out, but knowing that it would be far better for the information to be given freely.

"She is," Xander replied haltingly, pointing towards the figure lying on the ground.

Xander stared at the motionless figure of Buffy, completely unable to move. He hadn't been expecting to see her ever again, except in dreams of course, and for her to just reappear into his life so suddenly had caused him to go into emotional shutdown.

"Xander," Jesse called out, "she isn't breathing."

Hearing those words brought Xander back to the land of the living in a heartbeat, and he was crouching down next to her a moment later, trying to breathe life back into her for a second time. He was so focused on saving her life, that he was able to completely ignore the thoughts swirling through his mind about the differences between touching the real Buffy and the Buffy of his dreams, the final proof his psyche needed to know that the happiest, most joyous time in his life had been completely fabricated.

Again and again he forced air into her lungs, trying to restart her system, until eventually she took a large gasp of air unassisted and opened her eyes, the scene eerily similar to the last time Xander had saved her.

"Xander," Buffy breathed, half in joy and half in shock, the latter expected by Xander but the former seemingly out of place.

"Hey," he said softly, unable to hide the breathtaking smile that emerged on his face, "you're making this a habit you know," he told her, indicating his having to resuscitate her, "and this is one habit I'd really like you to break, as even though I seem to be incapable of it, you'll still be the death of me if you do this again."

"Xander," she repeated, her eyes lighting up as she began to realize that she wasn't hallucinating, or in heaven, and that he really was kneeling beside her. "You're alive."

"So are you," he replied, "we make a matching pair."

"You're alive!" Xander suddenly found himself unable to breathe as he was in receipt of a Slayer-sized hug, one he found himself reciprocating whole-heartedly. After several long moments, she pulled back suddenly, a questioning look on her face. "Why are you alive?" she paused for a moment before her eyes widened slightly. "And why do you have two hearts?"

Xander had almost flinched at the questions, thinking of how Angel had reacted to his continued existence, but all he saw in her eyes was genuine curiosity without a single shred of suspicion. He started to wonder whether they'd arrived in the correct dimension after all, as Buffy was acting nothing like how he remembered.

"It's a long story," he told her, quickly going on when he saw her eyes narrow slightly, "but one I promise to tell you later on. First things first though; why were you being turned into a Buffy-shaped night light?"

Just as Xander asked that, Buffy suddenly released him and stood up before pacing the floor frantically. "Oh my god! Dawn!"

Xander's head began to swim as he heard Buffy's panic laden scream, and Jesse's voice began booming into his head a moment later. _**Alexander! A spell is trying to overwrite your memories! Focus on my voice, and only my voice!**_

Xander did as was requested, and listened as intently as he could on Jesse's voice as he continued to talk to him, finding that it became easier to do so the longer he listened, until he found that there was no resistance at all. _**Okay, what the hell was that?**_ he asked, 'visibly' shook up by what had just occurred.

_**As I told you,**_ Jesse replied, **_a spell was trying to rewrite your memories, specifically concerning your time in Sunnydale since Buffy arrived._**

_**How did you stop it?**_ Xander enquired, remembering what Eve had told him about their inability to cast magic.

_**I didn't, **_Jesse told him, his tone making Xander feel that Jesse would be smiling if he could see him.**_ The spell is still running; I have just done the biological equivalent of a system back up within your mind. It was the only thing I could think of at the time, but now at least it would allow you to have both sets of memories, enabling you to see just what the spell was trying to make you remember._**

_**Did…**_

_**No, Buffy had no knowledge of the spell,**_ Jesse assured him, knowing what the question was going to be, _**at least, not that she was going to cast it on you. It had laid dormant within her mind, waiting for her to speak about a certain object, place or person, making whoever in earshot that already hadn't been affected by the spell remember it as though they'd always been aware of it, in this case a young woman by the name of Dawn.**_ Sensing that Xander was going to ask more questions, Jesse went on. _**The easiest thing to do would be for me to allow you time to assimilate the new memories, so you can see for yourself what changes have been made.**_

Jesse left Xander's mind and turned his attention, not that it had really left, back to his interior, specifically the young woman holding his companion as he slumped to the ground.

"Xander?" Buffy said softly, shaking him gently but firmly in an attempt to wake him up. "Xander, wake up!" she said louder, increasing her shaking of him as her panic began to rise.

"Alexander is just getting used to a new set of memories," Jesse told her, causing Buffy to spin round, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" she demanded, wanting to search for them but not wanting to leave Xander alone on the floor.

"I am the ship that you currently find yourself in Miss Summers," Jesse explained.

"Alright," she said slowly after a few moments, "that's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard, but it's definitely up there. So, what do I call you, Hal?"

"Very droll," Jesse told her, his tone indicating just how unfunny he found her remark. "My real name in unpronounceable in your language Miss Summers, so Alexander has, with my permission, named me Jesse."

"After his friend," Buffy said unnecessarily, a sad lilt to her voice as she thought of the first person she'd failed to save in Sunnydale. "By the way, please call me Buffy."

"Very well, Buffy. I apparently sound very much like his departed friend, and his first reaction was to say his name." Before she could ask him anything else, Jesse went on. "We shall be landing soon, and it might be a good idea if you could fill me in on the current situation."

Buffy pondered on the best way of explaining what had been going on, and decided to be blunt. "Basically, a hell goddess called Glory wanted to use my sister, Dawn, to open a portal home. I managed to slow her down long enough to stop her, but one of her servants, a rather unassuming demon called Doc, sliced Dawn and opened the portal. As her blood opened the portal, it would also close it, but I wasn't going to let her kill herself so I jumped instead, but not before I ripped that bastard Doc's head clean off though."

"How would you jumping into the portal solve anything, if it was your sister's blood that was required?" Jesse enquired, his tone perplexed.

"She's not really my sister," Buffy admitted reluctantly. "Some monks created her out of mystical energy known as The Key, and used me as a template for her. It was the energy that Glory needed to go home, and because the Key was now human, it was the blood that held the power. As we both have the same blood, either one of us would work and I chose me."

"What has become of Glory?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," she replied, her tone suggesting just how unhappy she was about that, "after I'd smacked her about enough to leave her lying on the floor, I started to make my way up the tower to help Dawn."

"Well then," Jesse said brightly, sensing that the conversation needed lightening, "the first thing we'll have to do is ensure that your sister and the others are okay, and then Xander, Jack and The Doctor will think of a way to deal with Glory personally, amply assisted by Eve and myself of course. I'm assuming that by Glory you mean Glorificus?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied in surprise, "how do you know about her?"

"I've been around a very long time," Jesse told her, Buffy being able to tell it was a gross understatement, "and have learnt a great many things."

Their conversation was cut short when Xander began to stir. "Ohh, you could have told me how much that would hurt," he groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, surprised that Buffy was holding him. "Hey."

"Hey," she replied softly. "So, you're the proud owner of a space ship huh?"

"I don't own Jesse," he denied, a confirming sound coming from Jesse himself, "he's my companion."

"I didn't know you swung that way Xan," Buffy teased, waggling her eyebrows.

"Ha, Ha, very funny." Xander turned to one of the speakers. "Have we landed yet?" he asked, thinking that he'd need to speak with Jesse about him using an image on the view screen so he actually had someone to look at when he spoke to him.

"Yes," Jesse replied, "the others are waiting outside, not very patiently I might add. I don't think The Doctor likes the fact that his sonic screwdriver won't open my door," he told him, his voice sounding terribly smug.

Xander stood up slowly before going over to the main console and sat down. "You might as well let them in," he instructed Jesse before he turned his attention back to Buffy. "Deadboy is with us by the way."

"Why?" she asked, shocked that she would soon be seeing her former boyfriend after nearly a year.

"I'll let him explain it," he told her, not feeling up to it himself.

The doorway opened and The Doctor, Rose and Jack walked in, Angel, Fred, Gunn, Doyle and Cordelia following quickly behind. When Cordelia saw Xander, she rushed over and pulled him onto a bruising hug for a while before releasing him and slapping him hard around the face.

"Where the hell have you been!?" she demanded, her tone and stance indicating dire consequences if her didn't give a full and frank answer immediately.

"Hi Cor, how are you?" he asked, completely ignoring her question.

"Don't you hi Cor me!" she snapped. "Where the hell have you been the last two years?"

"Going where no man has gone before." Coughs from The Doctor and Jack caught his attention. "Okay," he drawled, "going where I've never gone before."

"Before you go any further," Jesse cut in, causing most of his occupants to look around in surprise, Cordelia most of all as she definitely recognised the voice, "we need to ascertain whether Buffy's sister and her friends are alright, not to mention ensuring that Glorificus has indeed been disposed of."

"Right," Xander said decisively. "How far away are we from the opening to the portal?"

"Approximately 4 miles," Jesse answered. "I thought it prudent to ensure that we couldn't be sucked back in, even though it seemed to close just after our arrival. Also, the strange energy signature emanating from the town, no doubt caused by the Hellmouth, would begin to affect my and Eve's systems if exposed to it for too long."

"That means we get to have a nice walk back to Sunnydale, at night. Oh joy," Xander said sarcastically.

"It might not be as bad as you think Alexander," Jesse told him, his voice showing amusement. "I have a few... gadgets here that should prove useful."

* * *

"I can't believe you actually have phasers," Buffy moaned as Xander incinerated yet another demon with the device. "And I really can't believe that you won't share."

Before they decided to make their way back to Buffy's house, where she said Giles and the others would have gone, Buffy went through with the others what had happened the past few months, followed by Angel and then finally Xander. Those that had known Xander before hadn't been too happy when he'd informed them of his new non-human status, but when he'd explained the alternative they'd quietened down fast. Even Angel, who had little love for the young man, felt sympathy for him over the ordeal he'd gone through, and would have still been going through had it not been for Eve's assistance.

Once the back-story had been divulged, the next order of business was to look over the 'gadgets' Jesse had mentioned to see if they would be useful. Xander knew that they would be the moment Jesse gave them the direction to the armoury, and The Doctor had been both impressed and disgusted by such an impressive range of weaponry Jesse had at his, or more precisely Xander's, disposal.

Not wanting to raise suspicion, as while the citizens of Sunnydale seemed able to ignore or explain away a multitude of things ray guns may be pushing it too far, Jack and Xander left the larger weapons where they were and simply grabbed a hand phaser apiece, The Doctor deciding to forego the weaponry completely. The others were less reticent, but before any of them could do so, Jesse had warned them against picking up any of the weapons, offering them less technological but equally as deadly alternatives. Xander had also grabbed several other devices that he thought would come in handy, before they all left Jesse and began their four-mile walk.

It was at this point that Cordelia fell down in agony, a vision entering her mind care of the Powers That Be, indicating that a child who could grow up one day to be a Champion and their parents were being hunted by a group of mercenary demons hired by Wolfram & Hart. Not knowing how long they had, Angel and the others had no choice but to part ways with the others and make their way to LA.

Xander had offered to give them a lift, but Jesse warned him that they were now part of events and therefore travelling would become tricky. He didn't quite understand why, but Xander trusted Jesse's judgement in these things and had instead gone with them and helped them 'acquire' a car for transport purposes, showing them how useful a sonic screwdriver could be.

Before they left, Cordelia forced him into promising that he wouldn't be a stranger, and to not leave it two years before she saw him again. Xander then showed them how effective a phaser could be by vaporising a tree, informing Angel that if anything happened to Cordelia or the others, Fred included who had decided to go with the souled vampire to the City of Angels, what happened to the tree would be nothing compared to what would happen to him. Waving them off, Xander then met up with the others and began to make their way to Buffy's house.

While they had expected some sort of demonic presence to rear its ugly head during their walk, they hadn't expected to see quite so many demons in such a short space of time. Apparently, news of her supposed death had reached the underworld and they'd decided to come out and party, the human population of Sunnydale acting as their party favours.

It seemed as though Glorificus had scared a fair amount of the demon community, and they had been lying low to remain inconspicuous. Buffy and the others hadn't taken much notice in the drop of demonic activity, as they'd been too preoccupied with Glory, her minions and those Knights of Byzantium idiots that had all been after them to worry about the nocturnal population of Sunnydale or the lack thereof.

"As Jesse told you," Xander replied to Buffy's moan, trying to prevent himself from dancing around in geeker joy at being able to use a real phaser, "he was from a less civilised time, and so weaponry was a must. Eve doesn't have any offensive weapons, apart from the ones that Jack and I have brought on during our travels, as she was purely for discovery and exploration. As for why you can't use them, all weaponry aboard Jesse is engineered only to work for Time Lords; anyone else that tries to use it will find themselves filled with enough volts to light up New New York."

"Yeah, well, it's still unfair," she moaned, dodging a wild swing from a vampire and dispatching it easily with a stake Jack had provided her with.

"I'm sure you'll get over it," Xander assured her as he fired upon yet another vampire. "Are you sure that Giles and the others would have taken Dawn back to your house and not to the hospital?" he asked.

"Yeah," she confirmed, "none of us like hospitals at the best of times as you well know, but ever since mom..." Buffy broke off, wiping her eyes as fresh tears came.

"I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to help," Xander told her sincerely, feeling bad that he hadn't been around to help his friend through such a traumatic time in her life.

He considered asking Jesse to take him back in time to help save Joyce, but he knew that to do so may well cause the timeline to become even worse than it was, remembering one of The Doctor's stories about his early adventures with Rose when he wasn't quite the man he was today. Xander just hoped that Buffy and the others didn't figure out that it was possible and ask, as he wasn't sure he'd be able to deny them.

"You weren't to know," she told him, feeling soothed by his sincere regret.

"Doesn't make I me feel any better," he replied gloomily, feeling cheated in a way that he had been unable to say goodbye to a genuinely wonderful lady like Joyce.

"We're nearly there," Buffy told him, deciding that a change of topic would be a good idea right now, "and once we're inside we should be safe as Willow and Tara have placed enough wards in and around it so nothing short of Glory herself can get in without our say so."

"Who's Tara?" Xander asked, wondering who had joined their group since his departure.

He quickly found his curiosity piqued even more by Buffy's reaction to his question, as she faltered in step and half started several times to answer him.

Eventually she just sighed and came straight out with it. "She's Willow's girlfriend."

Xander felt surprised for a moment before shrugging. "She must be something special for Willow to admit she felt that way."

"She is," Buffy confirmed, thinking that Tara's help had been indispensable since she had joined their merry band, and not just in their nighttime activities. Xander's words finally sunk in and she looked at him in surprise. "You knew Willow was gay?"

"I know that she's Bi," he corrected gently. "Willow never looks at aesthetics when it comes to the people she's attracted to, it's something much deeper and goes beyond gender. To be honest, labelling her as anything other than Willow just seems… wrong, so I try not to."

As they reached the door to Buffy's house, Xander's steps began to slow as he realised he was going to be returning to a world he had left well before they believed him dead, and wasn't sure he'd be able to do so. He'd felt more and more isolated from them as time had passed, although that was mostly his own fault, and he was no longer sure he would be able to fit in with them anymore.

Another thought that hit him was that he hadn't been feeling the usual misery that went with seeing or thinking about Buffy, and while he was relieved, he also wanted to know whether it was a temporary thing like before, caused by the spell he'd experienced earlier. He knew that now Buffy and the others were aware that he was alive, it would be very difficult for him to leave again, at least for very long, and if he had to go through the emotional rollercoaster he went through before, he'd rather not get reacquainted with them at all and get their hopes up.

His options were taken away from him when the front door was flung open and a small blur came flying out, latching itself onto Buffy.

"You're alive!" Dawn, Xander's mind supplied from his new memories, screamed as she tried to hug her 'sister' in half. "You're alive!" She suddenly let go and looked Buffy in the eye. "Why are you alive?" she demanded.

Buffy rolled her eyes at the last question, but the smile didn't leave her face as she saw that Dawn was alive and well. "It's good to see you too," she told her sister sincerely, a shimmer coming to her eyes.

Dawn turned to see who was with Buffy, and when she saw someone completely unexpected she released her sister to grab them in a hug as strong. "Xander!" she squealed, completely ignoring the small part of her brain that suggested he might be dangerous as she buried her face into his chest with a happy sigh.

"Hey Dawn Patrol," he said softly, feeling a little uncomfortable. On the one hand he knew her as Dawn Summers, younger sister to Buffy and unofficial president of the 'Xander is Great Fan Club'. On the other hand, he didn't know her at all and was feeling a little weirded out having her cling to him so readily.

"You know," Dawn began, her tone mischievous, "I thought your middle name was Lavelle, not Lazarus."

"Gah! Not the middle name, never the middle name!" he told her, still fighting the slightly disoriented feeling he had interacting with her. "I take it that you're none the worse for wear after your little adventure earlier today?"

"Yeah; it looked like the blade Doc used on me was enchanted or something, as my wound had healed after just a minute or two. Of course," she went on, "being the total spaz that I am, I didn't even realise until Giles wiped the blood off."

Before either of them could contradict her, Dawn grabbed their hands and all but dragged them into the house, which given the amount of demonic activity they'd seen wasn't a bad idea.

With Jack and the others following suit, the Summers house was getting pretty full, which meant that Xander had nowhere to manoeuvre when Willow came barrelling up to him and engulfed him in a hug similar to the ones he'd received from both Summers women. If Buffy hadn't put a steady hand out, Xander was certain that they'd have fallen to the floor in a heap, waiting a moment before allowing herself to be pulled into a crushing hug by Giles, who had thought that the woman he thought of as a daughter had left him once again.

When Xander realised the noises he was hearing was Willow babbling, he felt a pang of regret that he had trouble getting it all. When he'd been able to decipher what Fred had been saying, he had thought that some skills never leave; that may still be true, but skills do dull with time, and he was just finding that out.

A pretty mousy blonde seemed to see his predicament and decided to take pity on him. "She says that she always knew you weren't dead," she told him softly, Xander assuming that she was a naturally quiet person, "as she didn't feel that you were dead like she had with Jesse, but never brought it up because she knew how the others would react. I'm Tara by the way," she added, her hair covering her face suddenly as though she willed it, which given that she was probably a witch was very possible.

"I'm Xander," he told her in greeting, "and it's always nice to meet someone who can make Willow happy, as Willow's should always be happy; Xander's law."

"Well, I'm nothing if not law abiding," she assured him with a smile.

"That's good to know." Xander looked down to the redheaded limpet attached to him and kissed the top of her head. "Willow, Giles over there looks like he either wants to hug me or examine me, and he can't do either until you're out of the way."

The person in question suddenly felt a little hot under the collar as everyone turned to face him, their faces showing a spectrum of emotions between confusion and anger. Seeing that the situation could escalate, especially when he saw Jack starting to go for his weapon, Xander gently extricated himself from Willow and moved himself between Giles and the rest of the group. "Hey Giles," he greeted the older man warmly, "long time no see."

"Good evening Xander," Giles replied cordially, but coolly, "if that is indeed who you are."

Xander didn't blame Giles for being suspicious; he'd probably be worried if he hadn't been, especially given the way Dawn and Willow had rushed over to him regardless of the risk. Of course being rational only works so far, and to see someone he respected and thought of as a mentor look at him with distrust in his eyes hurt a lot.

First things first, he needed to prove that he was not a member of the fangy community, something he did quite easily as he pulled a cross out from his back pocket and held it in his hand.

"Do you have any holy water on you?" he asked the older man, who pulled a vial out from within his jacket and passed it over to him. Without a pause, Xander opened the vial and downed the water in one go, doing it in such a way that it was clear to Giles that the liquid was indeed gone down his throat.

"Okay," Giles said, "you've proven that you're not a vampire, but you may well be a demon of some kind assuming Xander's form."

"Shoot me, stuff me, mount me."

The others looked at Xander strangely for the non-sequitor, but Giles' eyes widened as a memory unspooled within his mind of the time Xander had been possessed by the spirit of a hyena. After the event, Xander had told the others that he couldn't remember a thing during his possession, but a private conversation between the two had revealed that Giles knew otherwise, and it was then that Xander had uttered that phrase.

Only Giles and Xander were there, and the newly re-appointed Watcher had never betrayed Xander's confidence, and he was certain that Xander had never told another soul, meaning that the young man standing in front of him truly was Xander. Instead of letting the others know of his change of opinion verbally, he pulled the younger man into a hug, pleased beyond words that Xander was indeed alive and well.

"It's good to see you my boy," he told Xander sincerely as he released him, before pinning him with a piercing gaze. "Now, if you would be so kind as to explain why it took you two years to inform us of your continued existence?"

"I will," he assured him, "but there are more pressing concerns right now."

"Like?" he asked, not happy with the delay.

"Glorificus for one. I know that Buffy put the beat down on her before she took a swan dive, but nothing after that. Do we know for certain that she's dead?"

"She's dead," Giles assured them, his tone certain.

"How can you be so sure?" The Doctor asked, always needing physical proof before he was able to accept anything.

"Because I killed her," the Watcher told him, "or at least the human host she'd been bound to."

"You did what?!" The Doctor snapped. "How could you be so stupid!?"

"Xander, just who are these people?" Giles asked, finding the man's attitude grating. The fact that he had a British accent only made it more galling, as he was starting to remind him of the inner circle of the Council.

"I suppose introductions are in order; Giles, Willow, Tara, I would like you to meet The Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Captain Jack Harkness. Jack, Doc, Rose, I would like you to meet Rupert Giles, Willow Rosenberg and Tara…" he trailed off as he realised he didn't know what Tara's last name was.

"Maclay," Tara supplied, nodding slightly to the others.

"A doctor of what may I ask?" Giles enquired, earning a raised eyebrow from the man in question.

"Xander asked me the same thing."

"The answer being?" Giles asked a little impatiently.

"It's my name, not my title. My title is Time Lord."

"Good Lord," Giles exclaimed, his eyes showing recognition to the title, which only Xander saw.

"No, Time Lord," The Doctor corrected with a smirk.

"So you're a lord of time?" Buffy asked, her tone sceptical.

Before Xander had a chance to intervene, The Doctor spoke. "My word you're intelligent, you got all that just from my title?" The Doctor mocked, not realising something rather fundamental; never piss off a Slayer when they're within striking distance. He never saw the blow coming, and he felt the pain of colliding with the wall before he felt the pain in his jaw.

Xander walked over and crouched down next to The Doctor, a slightly amused expression on his face but a dark look in his eyes. "I may have neglected to inform you of Buffy's title, although I would have rather thought that you'd have figured it out for yourself on the walk here. May I once again introduce you to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer."

Buffy nodded her head again in greeting, The Doctor noticing that the look in her eyes meant that she wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing again. Xander moved in closer and spoke softly into The Doctor's ear, ensuring that no one, not even Buffy, could listen in. "You may well be used to being able to say whatever you like and not regretting the consequences, but around here you better damn well find yourself a mental filter."

"It seems you left out a few details about your life before arriving aboard the TARDIS Xander," The Doctor said eventually as he slowly got to his feet.

"No he didn't," Jack said cutting into the conversation, "he told me all about his friends, barring their names of course."

"He never mentioned them to me," he groused, the look he had in his eyes making Xander feel a little guilty.

"Well maybe he thought I'd actually listen," Jack retorted. "You're not exactly the most sociable of people."

"Let's get back on track shall we?" Rose said, getting between the three Time Lords. "Sometimes I think you're all related to the Three Stooges."

"Nyuk Nyuk," Xander said, forcing a laugh out of Rose and releasing some of the tension in the room. "Why are you so worked up over Giles killing Glory's human host?" he asked The Doctor. "I know you're not a fan of killing, but I think we can all see that there was no other choice."

"Glory's abilities were muted because she was tied to a mortal; by killing the host, those limitations no longer exist. You've gone from dealing with a handicapped Hell Goddess, to one who has full use of all her abilities." The Doctor turned his attention to Giles, whose face showed he was well aware of what he had done. "Congratulations, you've made things a hundred times worse."

Xander got right up into The Doctor's face, the Time Lord actually backing up a step as he saw the look in his eyes. He realised now that Xander was right; he really did need to engage his mental filter. He was so used to dealing with strangers, only interacting with them enough to avert whatever crisis he found himself in, that he never bothered himself with simple niceties. Now his lack of common courtesy had put him in the path of Xander's anger, and The Doctor knew that was somewhere he most definitely did not want to be.

"I really urge you to keep your damn mouth closed unless you have something important to say," Xander told him quietly. "You are my friend, and I respect you a great deal, but if you insult my family again, we will be having words."

"I had understood it from what the Council had told us that Glory, or The Beast as they called her, had been on Earth a lot longer than her human host, Ben, had been alive. If that is the case, why was she not freed before now?" Willow wondered aloud, her question causing the two Time Lords to silently agree to a truce.

"My best guess," The Doctor replied, "is that it was more the way he died than the actual event. I take it that there was some sort of masking spell making it difficult for people to remember who she was bonded with?"

"Yes," Buffy told him, "I'm almost certain that had been around when they changed from one to the other, but all I can remember is that one moment Ben was there and the next minute Glory was using me as a human lawn dart."

The low menacing growl that suddenly came from Xander made them all turn to face him, the man in question blushing slightly from both the action and the extra attention. "Sorry, instinct."

"Has anyone ever told you you're a strange individual?" Rose asked him with a smile.

"Not in so many words, but they surely got the point across."

"Can we get back to my brilliant supposition please?" The Doctor asked in frustration.

"Oh please, amaze us with your brilliance Mr. Perfection," Xander said, faking a southern belle whilst batting his eyelashes.

The Doctor sighed but went on with his theory. "I would assume that because Giles was well aware of who Ben was, and that his reason for killing him was in the hope that by doing so Glory too would perish, it was enough to break whatever it was that chained her to a mortal soul to begin with."

"Alright, as Dawn is still here, Glory might well have been returned from whence she came…"

"When did you start using whence?" Buffy asked Xander playfully.

"… but we have no real way of knowing whether this Glorificus is gone or not," Xander went on, ignoring Buffy's comment with all the dignity he could muster, "so we have to assume that she isn't. That means we have to figure out a way of tracking her, and to protect Dawn in the mean time now that Glory knows that she is the Key."

"We've tried several different locator spells in the past, and each time with no result," Giles told them, his frustration over the situation showing in his voice.

"Okay, we'll get on to that soon, but the first thing we need to do is check everybody over for injuries; Jesse gave me a few things that will help."

"Jesse?" Willow asked.

"I'll introduce you to him later Wills," Xander assured her, knowing that he had to prepare for that beforehand, "I know you're gonna want to meet him and Eve."

"At least with you getting your own ship I won't have to listen to you calling the TARDIS that silly name," The Doctor commented, earning himself a slap to the head from Rose.

"I may not be able to talk to her myself," she told him, still feeling a little put out by that fact, "but I do know that she likes the name Eve, so I won't stop calling her that."

"Nor will I," Jack agreed, gaining a smile from Rose the he reciprocated wholeheartedly. "And we'll look into a way for you to speak with her as well, alright?" he asked, Rose nodding and smiling even wider.

"Xander," Willow began tentatively as she saw what he was removing from the satchel over his shoulder, "why are you playing with a tricorder?"

"I'm not playing," he replied as he ran the device up and down Dawn's body checking for injuries that might have been missed, "and it's a medical tricorder."

"Oh." Willow looked blankly at him as he used the device for several moments before speaking again. "Xander, why are you playing with a medical tricorder?"

Xander sighed and after verifying that Dawn was fine, went over to her and began to do the same thing, thankful that she wasn't protesting. "It's real Wills; Gene Roddenberry received a visit from Jesse's previous crew and he took inspiration from what he saw,"

"You hit your head recently didn't you?" she asked, worried for his state of mind.

"He's telling you the truth Willow," Buffy told her, kneeling down next to Xander, "I've seen Jesse and he looks just like one of those shuttlecraft you see on the show. He's got a phaser as well, but he won't let me use it," she added with a pout pointed in his direction.

"I've already told you why not, so don't blame me," he informed her with a smile, relishing the ability to do so unencumbered.

Soon, he was finished checking on Willow and turned to Tara, who nodded her consent to his silent question and allowed him to check her over in the same manner. As he was doing so, he heard a quiet beeping noise coming from his chest, and remembered that Jesses had given him a communicator so that they wouldn't be out of contact for long.

"Xander here," he said in his best imitation of Commander William T Riker, which while not all that good still caused Willow to giggle.

"I hope you don't mind Alexander," Jesse began, "but I have been listening in on your conversation thus far and took it upon myself to see if I would be able to find a way of tracking Glorificus."

"I take it you've found a way." Xander assumed, looking up at Willow as he heard her gasp in shock and saw her face turn ashen.

"Jesse," she whispered, tears coming to her eyes as she though of her dearly departed friend, something she hadn't allowed herself to do too often.

"I'd hoped that I could have explained before you heard him," Xander told her as he pulled her into a hug, "but as we both know things don't turn out as you expected on the Hellmouth."

"I miss him," she said softly into his ear, the first time she had admitted such a thing to her oldest friend.

"I know, me too."

"I'm sorry if I have caused you any distress Mss Rosenberg," Jesse said sincerely, "but I felt that I could not wait to inform Alexander of my findings. Having interacted with Glorificus' kind before, I have her race's energy signature in my database. Taking into account how it would diminish and change from her time being merged with a human, although that would soon change, and the natural dampening effect the Hellmouth's energies produce, I have managed to get a rough estimate of her current location."

"Okay, but why was it necessary to tell us now?" Xander asked, a bad feeling in his gut.

"Because she is currently half a mile from your location and closing fast."

"Shit!" Xander swore, quickly standing up and begin pacing the floor. "Do you know if the phaser I have will be of any use?"

"Uncertain; it wouldn't have affected her before, but being bound to a human host for so long may have weakened her sufficiently for it to work, but even then you would need it to be on the maximum setting."

"Great, and if I miss I'll take out half the neighbourhood. Okay, new plan; we make a run for it. Jesse, how long could you be on the Hellmouth before your systems become affected?"

"Approximately fifteen minutes before the damage would become permanent," Jesse informed him, "less than five before I'm affected at all."

"That's more than long enough. I'm gonna need you to act as a distraction while Eve comes in and picks us up and you follow right behind. Are you two okay with that?" As soon as he'd finished the question, the unmistakable sound of Eve arriving could be heard in the back garden. "I'll take that as a yes. Alright everyone, all aboard that's coming aboard, the Eve Express to Freedom will be departing shortly."

"How much should I worry about collateral damage?" Jesse asked.

"Do what you have to, but try to at least leave this house intact," Xander replied as he made his way through the house into the kitchen, the others following closely behind.

"How are we all going to fit inside that Xander?" Willow asked as she saw Eve in the garden. "It barely looks big enough to fit two, let alone all of us."

"Trust me," he told her as he opened the door to Eve, "appearances can be deceptive."

They all followed him inside, those who hadn't done so before making the appropriate noises of shock and awe while The Doctor, Jack and Xander took up positions at her central console.

"Seeing as you've obviously been holding back on us," The Doctor told Xander, "you can get us out of here."

Xander didn't bother to reply, instead he began to handle the control like he was born to do so, which in a way he was.

_**Where would you like to go Alexander?**_ Eve enquired.

_**Britain, present day. Giles should know a few people who could help figure out a way to deal with Glorificus, and it's far enough away to buy us a few hours at least.**_

"You are of course working under the assumption that she doesn't have the ability to travel unaided," The Doctor pointed out verbally, making the others look at him a little strangely.

"If she were able to do so, we wouldn't have had the time to get away," Xander replied as the three of them manned the controls to plot the course to Britain. "Giles, is there anywhere in Britain we can go to lay low for a while?"

"My family has an estate in Surrey we can use," Giles replied, giving the younger man the address.

"Excellent, we'll be able to see how the other half live for a while," Xander said absently while programming the coordinates into Eve. "By the way Giles, how many files do the Council have on The Doctor?"

"I'm not sure, maybe…" Giles trailed off as he realised his mistake. "How did you know?"

"I may have been gone a while," Xander said with a smile. "but I doubt you'd have changed that much. You always say good lord when you've been told something important, and you said it when you were told our title."

"Our?" Giles asked, looking at Xander intently. "What do you mean, our?"

"Just what I said, our. The Doctor, Jack and I are the last three remaining Time Lords, although The Doctor is the only one born into it naturally."

"Xander, if these Council people have files on us, do you think it wise to say anything else?" Jack asked, The Doctor remaining strangely silent.

"I'd already told Buffy, so Giles would have found out eventually anyway."

"Are you saying I can't keep a secret?" Buffy asked faux-indignantly.

"Wills and I found out about you being the Slayer within 24 hours of meeting you," he reminded her seriously, before a smile came to his face, "but as I never told you that it was a secret, you wouldn't have needed to keep it." Xander turned his attention to Jack. "Giles is trustworthy Jack, and the great thing is that if he did somehow lose all of his marbles and betray me, he knows that he wouldn't get to see another sunrise."

"Now see here…"

"No Giles," Buffy said cutting him off, "Xander's right. The main difference between the evil that we fight and us is that we have people that we can trust, that we can count on. If we lose that, if someone we've trusted betrays us, we have to deal with them more harshly than anyone else."

"I wasn't threatening you Giles," Xander informed him, "as I know I don't need to. If I ever betrayed any of you, I know that it would most probably be the last thing I'd do because you would ensure it."

"You're right of course," Giles conceded, "it's just not something we've ever said aloud before."

"I probably could have worded it differently," Xander admitted, albeit reluctantly, "so for that I apologise."

"No apology needed," Giles assured him, "if the roles were reversed I probably would have been the same."

"If we've gotten the touchy feely stuff out of the way," The Doctor said impatiently, "we've landed at the coordinates."

"Is he always this cranky?" Buffy asked in a theatrical whisper, earning herself a glare from the man in question.

"Only after getting caught when he doesn't want to," Xander replied in the same manner, "The Doctor hates getting caught if he didn't plan it himself."

"He plans to get caught?" Buffy asked incredulously, wondering whether The Doctor should see a doctor of his own while at the same time finding it hilarious.

"Oh yeah, all the time," Xander said brightly, knowing The Doctor could hear every word.

"The best way to find out what's going on is to ask, and the best way to speak with the one with all the answers is to be taken to them," The Doctor replied matter-of-factly, even though there was a twinkle in his eye that made Buffy believe that there was more to him than she had seen. Of course, there had to be, as if he were like this 27/7, she knew that Xander would not hold him in such high regard.

"Well Giles, you know this place better than most so why don't you lead the way?" Xander suggested, receiving a nod of acquiescence from the man in question.

With Giles in the lead, the group left Eve, noticing that Jesse had landed adjacent to them, and saw that they were in a large meadow with a grand manor house off in the distance.

"While I can tell that we're not exactly in a heavily populated area," Xander began, a small smile on his face as he realised the underestimation of his statement, "is it safe for a bright blue police box and a space ship to be left out in the open like this?"

"Unlike Eve," Jesse said, "I have the capability of changing my external appearance to better blend in with my surroundings, although it is only the technological equivalent of a glamour spell. I might be able to expand that field to include Eve for a short while, but it would only be a temporary measure."

"How long?" Xander asked.

"Eighteen hours; I might be able to stretch it to a day, but I would prefer not to."

"There should be no need," Giles assured Jesse, "I have a few contacts to call, and as it is early morning right now I won't have to wait before doing so. Once we've got the information we need, we could look into alternative measures, or simply move somewhere else. I have to say that I do believe the Council gave us all the information they had available on Glory, so we might not gain any further insight. A more detailed search could become fruitful, but I'm not sure we have the time for that."

"If we cannot find a way to effectively remove her as a threat," Xander said, "we'll have to find a way. Simple banishment won't be sufficient, as I won't knowingly let such an evil torment someone else just to get her out of our hair. I don't want her to get Dawn anymore than the rest of you, but could you live with yourself if you doomed another planet to untold misery?"

"No," Dawn said before anyone else could reply. "I know you all want to protect me, and I'm more than grateful believe me, but I won't sacrifice innocent people just to keep me safe, especially as we have no idea whether she wouldn't find a way back some time in the future and come after me again."

"Dawn's right," Giles agreed, "we must find a way to eliminate her completely, anything less will simply not do."

"If that's the case, then it would be wise to begin that detailed search of yours," Xander commented.

"Would that I could Xander, but even if she doesn't have supernatural means with which to travel, Glory will be no more than a day or two from finding us. The monks sent Dawn to us because the Hellmouth helped mask her energy signature; now that she is away from it Glory shall be able to track her down with ease."

"Start it anyway," Jack told him, "we have a few hours to decide either way, and it won't hurt to start. In the meantime, The Doctor and I can begin to think of ways to keep Glory busy to buy us some extra time, while Xander gets reacquainted with his family."

No one could see a fault in his thinking, so everybody acquiesced to Jack's suggestions and went their separate ways.

* * *

It was almost midday, and their time was running out before they had to start thinking of other ways to keep Dawn safe. Giles had gone off to call everyone he knew who might have information on Glory, or know people who might, whilst going through his family library to see if it held any pertinent information. Knowing the way Giles was with books, the others knew that his family library had to be pretty extensive, which meant he could well be in there long after their self imposed time limit came up.

Willow and Tara had follow Giles to the library, knowing that there would no doubt be a variety of magical texts that could very well come in handy. Willow had been able to go up against Glory briefly before becoming outclassed, and she hoped that by teaming up with Tara their combined power would be enough to do some major damage, at least momentarily.

Jack and The Doctor, with the help of Rose and Eve, began to think of ways to postpone and delay Glory in her attempts to find Dawn, The Doctor and Eve using their knowledge of Glory's species to come up with ways to disrupt her abilities, or at least fool them. While neither one knew Dawn or the others very well, Xander did and while he had his bad points, he was an excellent judge of character, and his ability to sense whether a person were trustworthy or not had saved them on more than one occasion. More then that, Xander was one of them, a Time Lord, and while he and Jack had only been so for a short time, they had in The Doctor's opinion earned the title, although he'd never say as such, and therefore his loyalty.

That left Xander, Dawn, Buffy and Jesse. After Eve had transported herself inside the mansion, easily fitting inside the ballroom, Jesse had suggested taking the young girl's mind off of things by taking her for a more leisurely ride around the countryside. He'd also shown them to the dining area, where they found that replicators were also real, Dawn making use of them by requesting a wide variety of coma inducing desserts and pastries. Buffy and Xander had joined in with the impromptu pig out session, although not with quite the enthusiasm.

"You know there's a good chance we won't find a way to get rid of Glory before the deadline don't you?" Xander said to Buffy softly, mindful of Dawn who was now snoring slightly after coming down from the sugar high.

"Yeah," she replied sadly. "We threw everything we had at her last time, and although it seemed to have some effect, it wasn't lasting. To know that she wasn't even at full power scares me more than I've felt in a long, long time."

"I've been thinking of a way to keep Dawn out of Glory's hands while the others kept researching ways to destroy her."

"I'm listening," she told him, sensing that he was nervous about something.

"Did you know that we could be away for months, maybe even years, and for everyone else only a moment would pass?"

Buffy had been thrown by the question for a moment before the meaning behind it hit her. Her eyes widened as she realised that Xander was asking her and Dawn to go with him, to turn tail and run away until they knew it was safe to return. She now knew why he'd been reticent to bring it up; if there was one thing she hated more than anything else was to run away. This time however, it wasn't about her, it was about Dawn, and she would do anything to ensure her sister's safety, even if it meant running away.

"What does Jesse think about this?" she asked, trying to buy herself time.

"I think that it would be the most prudent course of action given the circumstances," Jesse told her before Xander could respond. "As Xander told you, we could be gone for months and yet return only moments later, at least to the perception of the others."

"Glory is only able to track Dawn," Xander went on, "which means that she wouldn't be able to find the others, which would keep them safe to continue researching. I know that The Doctor will get itchy feet if he stayed around too long, but I know that Cordelia and the others would be more than happy to help. We could leave a way for them to contact us wherever, or whenever, we are, and we could return in an instant."

"You're really making it difficult to say no," Buffy told him, "which isn't difficult as I wasn't going to say no anyway."

"You weren't?" he asked, surprised but also pleased.

"No; Dawn is my focus here, not my ego. If we need to leave to keep her safe, then that's what we'll do. However, I'd only do it if there were not other alternative."

"You sure know how to make a man feel wanted don't you Buff," Xander quipped, but Buffy could sense that he felt a little hurt.

"It isn't that I don't want to be around you, far from it in fact," she assured him, "but the last time we were this close you pretty much told me it was torturous for you. I'd spoken to Giles about what you'd told me that day," she went on, Xander nodding to say he'd thought she might, "and he was astounded that you hadn't become completely catatonic from the emotional blitzkrieg you were under. I haven't seen you acting like that recently, but I'm worried that my being around you will cause a relapse or something."

"I don't know what to tell you," Xander replied, "as I'm not sure myself. When I first found myself on Eve, the depression and sadness I'd been weighed down by had dissipated, but it didn't last long and by the time Jack came back to the fold the feelings had returned. I don't know why I'm not feeling the way I used to around you, but this is one gift horse I won't even be acknowledging, let alone look into it's mouth."

"I may be able to enlighten you on that Alexander," Jesse told him, joining the conversation once more, "although it will be more of a theory than anything else. I'm not sure if you've taken a lot of time to filter through the second set of memories you now have of you time in Sunnydale," he went on, both Buffy and Xander listening attentively, "but I would hazard a guess that in those memories you didn't go through the experience with the Ytin'e'res did not take place, and that there were other factors that led you to casting the spell on the Mayor."

"Why not?" Xander asked, not exactly sure what he should be feeling about the whole thing.

"What you did, breaking free of their hold over you of your own accord, is quite simply unbelievable, mainly due to the fact that no other case has ever been recorded in recorded history, and I am included the Time Lord database in that. Even if the monks had been told of what had occurred, they would not have believed it, and therefore would not have included it in your new memories."

"Alright, say that everything you just told me is correct, how does that relate to Xander not feeling the way he used to when around me?" Buffy asked.

"I still feel the same way about you Buffy," Xander told her sincerely, "I just don't have the nasty after effects anymore."

"As I was saying Buffy," Jesse went on, not giving Buffy the opportunity to reply to Xander's statement, "having two different sets of memories regarding that night onwards, the affects have been, for want of a better term, diluted."

"That makes no sense," Xander told him, "especially as Buffy and the others remember what happened to me that night. If what you said was true, wouldn't their memories have been altered too?"

"You were the only one to experience what actually happened Alexander; the other might have been aware of what occurred, but they didn't have memories of what actually happened. Even though Buffy was aware of most of it due to the fact that you told her, she still didn't know specifics, and was therefore unable to fully grasp what you went through. Add to that the fact that you weren't around at the time the monks cast the spell, and there was no reason to alter their perceptions of that night."

"Are you telling me that I actually have different memories of Dawn to the others? What stupid kind of spell is that?" Xander asked incredulously.

"Up until that night no, all of your memories of her should be the same," Jesse explained, "but after it is quite possible that some of the memories you have of Dawn will differentiate with her own. My best suggestion is to simply not mention anything you 'remember' of Dawn after that night. As to the spell, the monks were not infallible and with the pressure of Glory looming over them they simply didn't have the time to prepare for all eventualities, especially as they no doubt believed you to be dead."

"Getting back to the topic at hand," Buffy said, "do you know if the side effects will return?"

"I'm afraid not," Jesse answered reluctantly, quickly going on when he sensed both Buffy and Xander's mood at the news, "I know that isn't what you wanted to hear Alexander, but I simply cannot give you a definitive answer. The only way we will know for sure is to wait."

"I can't make your life a living hell again Xander," Buffy told him, her eyes moistening slightly, "I just can't."

"I'm willing to take the risk Buffy," Xander assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder, "and as it is my body we're talking about here I get the deciding vote. Anyway," he went on, "if we do need to get Dawn out of here, I can't see you staying behind, so you really don't have much choice."

"I just don't want to cause you any more pain," she mumbled as she battled with her emotions.

"Life is pain Buffy, you know that more than most, just like you know that you have to risk a little pain to do the right thing."

"A little pain? From what I remember, you tried to kill yourself numerous times, and only stopped when you found that you couldn't die."

"Yeah, well, you… Dawn's worth it."

Buffy bit her bottom lip upon hearing Xander's slip of the tongue, not knowing quite what to say. The last time she had properly talked with Xander, not including when he killed Dick, she had told him that she could never see them becoming an item. She'd known almost immediately what he answer had done to him, and as Xander went on to explain just what he went through she'd come to understand the full ramifications of what her answer had meant to him.

What she hadn't known was what her answer meant to herself, at least not until later.

While Xander had become increasingly distant before her talk with him, he's practically dropped off the face of the earth afterwards, and it was then that she really started to realise just how much she missed him in her life. Almost from the moment she arrived in Sunnydale Xander had been there, and without her even realising he had become a calming and necessary presence in her otherwise hectic life.

His ability to joke even in the face of death lightened up an otherwise bleak existence; his stalwart belief that she could overcome any and obstacles that might get in her way, even when everyone else thought otherwise, was sometimes all she needed to prove him right; his willingness to fight alongside her despite the odds made her feel that she wasn't alone against the darkness. He had gone out with her on patrol night after night, knowing that he was up against things stronger and faster than him and that he might not live to see sunrise, and even though he would joke about his lack of courage he never shrank from a fight, nor did he ever run away.

He had done so much for her, and for her to fully appreciate it he had to take it all away from her. In a way that was his own fault, although she felt guilty for thinking so, as he was so unassuming, so ready to play down his own part in things, that it was easy to overlook and even expect it as normal, instead of seeing it as extraordinary. By the time her thoughts had made what was now their logical conclusion, she knew that Xander would not believe her, believing her to be saying what he wanted to hear in some vain attempt to help.

After the battle at Graduation, Buffy and the others had gathered at Giles' apartment and she had explained what she had seen Xander do. Giles was quickly able to explain to them just what he had done, the sacrifice he had made on their behalf, and while she knew it was egotistical Buffy knew that he had done it for her more for anyone else. She had been able to take some small amount of solace in the fact that he too was at peace, or at least not in a constant state of despair, but her feelings for him had not dwindled.

She hadn't wallowed in misery, although there were times when she would have happily done just that, instead she had gone to college and thrown herself into her work, and stepped up a gear in her training with Giles, ensuring that she had little to no time for a social life. There had been a couple of potential candidates for boyfriend material, but hadn't allowed herself to pursue it as she knew that she would have only given them false hope. Later, as her mom's health began to deteriorate and Glory began to make her presence felt, it gave her more things to take her mind off of missed opportunities and dreams of what could have been.

Then as she jumped from the tower into the portal Doc had opened with the spilling of Dawn's blood, she did it knowing that closing the portal would save her friends and family, and hoping that she would wind up in the same place Xander went to when he vanished in a flash of light, and as luck would have it she did.

The only problem was that now that he was right in front of her, she was scared out of her mind to tell him how she feels. Everybody she loves leaves; her dad, her mom, Angel, and even Xander, and she wasn't sure she could tell someone else that they loved them and have them leave again.

"I hope you know what you're letting yourself in for Xander," she warned playfully, shelving that particular line of thought for later.

"I have a pretty good idea," he replied with a grin.

* * *

Their self-imposed deadline had come and gone, and the decision to leave had been made. Dawn had been surprisingly amenable about the whole thing, and the group had breathed a sigh of relief of that, given that Dawn Summers in full on tantrum mode was something to behold, not to mention downright scary.

Willow had extracted promises from all three to keep in contact, with threats of doing some not very nice things to them if they didn't. She also spent some time with Jesse, talking about some of the more technological aspects behind what a TARDIS truly is, whilst reminiscing over his namesake.

The Doctor, along with Jack and Rose, promised to stay a while longer to aid in the research, interspersed with sessions of demonology 101 with the Watcher, and that once they were on their way they would be on the lookout for anything that would help with getting rid of Glory once and for all. Xander knew that if anyone could find something to help, it would be those three.

Knowing that being away from home for would be difficult for the pair, Xander and Jesse had risked returning to Sunnydale to gather up a few of their personal belongings, hoping to make Jesse feel more homely for them. The young Time Lord was looking forward to reconnecting with Buffy, and to finally gain first hand knowledge of just what sort of person Dawn Summers was. He still had reservations concerning what would happen if the side effects were to return, but he had decided not to let them ruin what could be a truly pleasurable experience.

**A wise decision,** Jesse told him, his tone indicating his approval with the idea. **One should never allow thoughts of what could happen to dampen the appreciation of what would happen.**

**I have to ask,** Xander replied, **did you ever meet Confucius?**

All Xander received was the mental impression of a smirk.

Xander caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Buffy and Dawn walking towards him, travel bags at the ready, with Willow, Giles and the others following behind. "So, you two ready to go?" he asked, receiving nods in the affirmative from the two young ladies.

"You better take good care of them Xander," Giles warned, "otherwise I will take great joy in confirming whether your immortality is indeed as all encompassing as you believe."

"Believe me Giles, the only way either of them will get hurt is if I'm already dead," Xander assured the older man as they shook hands.

"Excellent."

"Now that the big strong men have assured that the little women will be okay," Buffy said sarcastically, levelling a half serious glare at the pair, "can we get moving?"

"Before you go," The Doctor interjected, stepping forward, "I want you to have thins Xander."

The Doctor then pulled out a small glass sphere from his jacket and handed it over to Xander, who looked quizzically at it. "What is it?"

"It's a communication device."

"Why would we need another one?" Xander asked. "Not that I don't appreciate the gift Doc, it's just that I thought we'd already assured that we would be able to reach each other if we needed to."

"We did, but I had been reminded that there was someone else we needed to consider."

"Who is that?"

**Me,** Eve replied. **The device you now hold in your hand will enable you to communicate with me telepathically no matter where, or when, you find yourself.**

Xander looked at the globe and then back to The Doctor, a wide beaming smile lighting up his face. "Thank you," he told him sincerely.

"The old girl would have moaned at me non-stop if I hadn't done something."

**I do not moan,** Eve told him primly.

"I was talking about Rose," The Doctor replied cheekily, instinctively ducking his head to narrowly miss getting hit by the woman in question. "Being serious now, I want you to take care of yourself," the Time Lord told Xander, "There aren't many of us left, and I've gotten used to not being the last of my kind."

"I'll be as careful with my life as you will with yours," Xander assured him.

"You better not," Jack told him with a grin, "The Doctor doesn't have a self preserving bone in his body." He then stepped forward and grabbed Xander into a hug, before shifting back and placing a quick kiss on Xander's lips. "We'll see you soon, so you better have some stories to tell us when we do."

"I'm sure that between the three of us the chances of getting in the middle of things is a certainty," Xander told his friend, doing his best to hide his reaction to the kiss for fear of hurting him. He had always known that Jack's ideas on sexuality differed from his own, coming from a different period in history and all, but Xander still felt a little uncomfortable with it, although it was more to do with the way his father had 'raised' him than because he had a problem with it himself.

The moment Jack stepped away a redheaded missile collided with Xander, Willow wrapping her arms around him in almost a death grip. "I'm gonna miss you," she mumbled into his chest, "I just got you back and you're already leaving again."

"But this time you know for a fat that I'll be coming back," Xander assured her, kissing the top of her head.

"Come one sweetie," Tara said softly as she gently pried her girlfriend off of Xander, "they have to get going."

Xander nodded to Tara in thanks and moved towards Jesse, where Buffy and Dawn were already inside waiting for him. After one final wave, Xander stepped inside and went over to the main console, sitting down in the plush leather chair, Buffy and Dawn taking seat either side of him.

"Alright Jesse," Xander began, "you know more about the universe then the three of us put together, so could you pick somewhere nice to start off our journey?"

A screen in front of him came to life, and Jesse's face appeared. "I'm sure I can think of something." There was a moment or two of silence before Jesse sighed. "Go on, you can say it."

Xander stood up, performed the 'Picard Manoeuvre', and smiled widely. "Engaged."

The End


End file.
